The S&A Health Report: Disney Has Banned This from Its Parks - You Should Avoid It, Too!
Disney World and even the makers of Oreo cookies have decided no more. No more to the substance that was once pitched as the perfect food filler. I am shocked at how much of Oreos’ white filling was made from this stuff. I get shivers thinking of how many of those sweet centers I polished off. Certainly, the calories were bad, but it turns out the foodstuff in the filling was literally killing me. This stuff is so bad that municipalities have started to outlaw it. Restaurant owners in the town of Tiburon, California, just banned the substance. Now there’s talk of New York City banning it… The NYC Board of Health is holding a public hearing on Monday and holding a final vote in December.
This substance is deadly – and most food manufacturers don’t want you to know it. Years ago, McDonald’s said it would get rid of the stuff, but then never did. The company later lost a lawsuit for failing to follow through and soon had to cough up several million dollars to the American Heart Association. KFC is in denial – it still uses this substance and claims the food is “compliant and healthy.” On the other hand, Wendy’s claims its restaurants no longer use it.
What is this killer? It’s called “transfat.” Some food producers claim that trans-fatty acids are natural and thus harmless. And while it is true that the fat exists in animals –specifically ruminants, such as cows and sheep – manufacturers, especially in the U.S., use far too much. Now, sensible countries are trying to modify its use. As of 2003 Denmark has banned more than 2% in any food. Word on the street is the pastries taste just as good without it.
For almost 100 years, food manufacturers have altered the structure of fat by bubbling hydrogen through it, increasing its shelf life and decreasing the need for refrigeration. The original Crisco was simply hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Other products made from this process were pitched as healthy alternatives. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, margarine was promoted as a safer alternative to the saturated fats of butter. However, studies have now shown that transfat has contributed significantly to the increases in heart disease.
What is so bad about transfat? It turns out that fat is just a huge chain of carbon atoms. Saturated fat is a chain of carbon that has two hydrogen atoms attached to each carbon atom. This kind of chain is wobbly and is usually liquid at room temperature.
Well, nature needs a stronger kind of fat… so some animals have fat with double bonds between carbon atoms, leaving room for only one hydrogen atom per carbon atom. If the hydrogen atom gets stuck on the wrong side of the chain, we get transfat, which is much more stable and harder to melt at room temperature. Margarine is a great example.
Eating transfats will increase your risk of coronary events – heart attacks. This is probably due to the fact that it raises the bad cholesterol, LDL, and decreases the good cholesterol, HDL. It also stimulates inflammatory cascades (and we all know that uncontrolled inflammation is bad for our health.) There is ongoing research that links diabetes and even cancers to transfats.
The fact is that we all need some fat in our diet – we would die without it. Those kinds of fats are called… essential fatty acid … Trans-fatty acids are not essential. True, transfat appears in milk and meat, but be careful. Many other foods contain it. Until this year, food manufacturers were not required to label the amount of transfat in their foods, and even now the print on the packaging remains small.
When it comes to trans-fatty acids... What do I do?
1. I try very hard to avoid them.
2. I read food labels very carefully – and if I see transfat listed, I put it down and walk away.
3. I confess that occasionally I get McDonald’s french fries, but only a small order.
4. I never eat at KFC and won’t until they remove the trans fat.
5. I avoid bakery goods since most of them still have transfat, especially ones commercially prepared in large quantities.
6. I try and cook with olive oil, which is a monounsaturated fat and easy for the body to break down.
7. I ask and encourage the restaurants I regularly frequent to avoid using transfat.
8. If I know I’ll be eating transfat, then I make sure to drink some wine with the food… the alcohol helps “melt” the fat and sure tastes good with steak!
Here’s to our health,
David Eifrig Jr., M.D., M.B.A.
P.S. If you’re living where the days are getting shorter, don’t forget to get outside and get sun on your face, arms and body… It will help keep your bones strong and your mood good.